Various surface treating devices which include an electric motor driven mechanism having a rotatable or output shaft upon the end of which is mounted a rotatable or movable surface treating element, such as a cloth or foam pad, are currently in use. Such surface treating devices are widely used in a variety of polishing and buffing applications, such as in automobile body finishing and maintenance operations.
Typically, one using an electric polishing/buffing machine to apply a surface treating material, such as a liquid wax, paste, conditioner, or other solution, squirts an amount of the treating liquid directly onto the pad or the metal, fiberglass or other surface to be treated. Then, the machine is activated to rotate or otherwise move the pad and work the liquid into the surface at various speeds and under various loads as applied by the machine operator. When using this well known method, polishing or buffing must be interrupted each time surface treating liquid needs to be applied. In addition, an operator running the polishing/buffing machine at high speeds may inadvertently disperse the surface treating liquid away from the surface area being treated, or may simply apply inconsistent amounts of treating liquid which can effect the quality of the polishing/buffing operation.
One attempt to overcome these drawbacks is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,411 issued to Freerks on Jun. 18, 1985. In this patent, a conventional dry surface treating device is converted into a wet surface treating device used in a sanding operation to provide a generally centered liquid supply on the working face of the rotatable element. That is, the rotatable pad or disc is provided with a first basin-like recess having a generally transverse flat bottom and side walls defining a channel opening toward and extending around the rotational axis of the pad. An opposed second surface includes an opening within or adjacent to an area generally centered with respect to the axis. The rotatable element also includes at least one passage communicating between the channel and opening, so that liquid collected in the recess will flow into the channel through the passage and out through the opening when the pad or disc is stationary or rotated about the axis. Liquid is delivered to the recess via a tube offset from the rotatably driven shaft of the device. With this construction, it is difficult to predict the amount of liquid actually being supplied to the opening due to the centrifugal force applied to the pad. In addition, the flow of liquid is simply controlled by an on-off valve and is supplied from an external source which may be satisfactory for wetting large amounts of airborne particles developed in a sanding operation, but fails to provide the necessary dispensing control from a reservoir mounted directly on the surface treating device, as is desired in a buffing or polishing operation.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a surface treating device which will more effectively and controllably disperse an amount of surface treating liquid to a rotatable or movable surface treating element. Likewise, it is desirable to provide a surface treating device adapted to incorporate a dispensing arrangement which may be conveniently actuated during operation of the surface treating device. Also, it is desirable to provide a wet surface treating device having a dispensing arrangement which is compact and self-contained within the driving mechanism of the surface treating device. In addition, it is sometimes desirable to treat the working surface with another tool such as a grinder/sander or heat lamp.